'SNL' alum Jim Breuer at The Grand Friday night

If you only know Jim Breuer from his "Saturday Night Live" era, you know the outlandish.

There was his spot-on Joe Pesci impression, the over-the-top Goat Boy and his role as snack-obsessed stoner Brian in "Half Baked" alongside Dave Chappelle.

In the years since, his stand-up comedy has matured with him. Sure, there are still the gonzo riffs and dead-on impressions, but Breuer also exposes audiences to the most delicate parts of his life. And he has plenty of them.

He speaks frankly about caring for his father, a 91-year-old World War II veteran suffering from dementia, who lives with him.

His marriage and three children are mined for comedy with unvarnished results.

And now that his mother just moved in – she's suffering from Alzheimer's disease – you can expect to hear even more about the personal side of the Long Island native, who will bring a new batch of stand-up to The Grand in Wilmington Friday night. (Tickets, $30-$36, are here.)

(Photo: Dima Gavrysh/AP)

Only a few minutes into an interview with The News Journal this week to preview the show, talk turned to how cathartic it is for him to talk about life's hardships in front of an audience.

But before Breuer could explain, he had more truth to unload: "Before I got on the phone with you, I broke down. I was sobbing at just how life is breaking me down. I'm in over my head. My mother just moved in. My daughter is putting me in the ringer. And when I talk about it, it feels so good – to watch people howl in laughter about this stuff. That's how I get through life."

He's used to that howl. He's a ball of energy on stage mixing physical comedy with sometime stark observations – a potent mix if you're sitting before him.

"There may be guys who are more clever or guys winning awards – and I'm being dead serious – but there is nobody who gets harder laughs or crushes a room harder than I do," says Breuer, 46, who last performed in Delaware at The Bob Carpenter Center in Newark in 2008 with fellow "SNL" alum Kevin Nealon. "I destroy a place and seeing them howling when I'm talking about my dad or serious marriage situations, it makes me feel better."

He adds: "At the end of the day, I'm a family guy. I have three daughters and I've been married 21 years. That is my world and people can relate to that. Some people do political stuff and others do one-liners. I'm like a therapist. When people get done watching me do a show, they come up to me and say, 'I thought we were the only ones.'

"I don't normally like comparisons, but one person said I was the modern day Bill Cosby, but with a Metallica jacket. I love that. It's true. I just don't have the sweater on."

(Photo: Courtesy of Jim Breuer)

Breuer's tour schedule this year has him hopscotching from small comedy clubs to larger theaters, like the 1,200-person Grand (818 N. Market St.)

In the clubs, Breuer is more likely to try new material and goof around with the audience, who sometimes still call out for Goat Boy.

When it comes to his proper theater show like Friday's, Breuer unveils an entire new set of comedy, which will be filmed in February and released as his new stand-up special. (His latest, "And Laughter For All," was released last year.)

Breuer says he really began to turn inward for his comedy after a meeting with Cosby in 2008, which he says changed his life. The comedy legend, who is never one to shy away from giving advice to younger comedians, told Breuer about his ability to inspire people.

"I can't tell you enough how I was begging and praying for that conversation from somewhere. So when he appeared out of the blue to hunt me down and tell me this, I didn't question it," he says.

Cosby's words of wisdom are one of the reasons why there's a hint of motivational speaker in his act. You'll hear more than a hint of it if you catch him giving his weekly marriage talks at Mendham Hills Community Church in Chester, N.J., near his home.

After being approached recently by Rev. John Isemann, whose church Breuer's wife regularly attends, the comedian agreed to do chats devoted to marriage each Sunday at the church. The series began May 11 and runs through next month.

Even though there have been frank discussions about sex, Breuer leaves much of his comedy act at home and speaks from the heart about his marriage and what it takes to maintain it.

"I praise [Rev. Isemann] because he holds his breath and gives me 10 minutes to just talk," he says. "It's the most attentive crowd I have ever had in my life. No one's wasted and no security guys are going up to people and telling them to shush."

And no one has yelled out for his Goat Boy character. Not yet, at least.

(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

In addition to examining his own life and loved ones, Breuer has another well-mined area for his stand-up: heavy metal music.

A longtime metal fan, Breuer mixed metal and comedy in 2002 for the release of his "Heavy Metal Comedy" film and has grown pretty tight with Metallica, thanks in part to his impression of Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

Breuer will up the metal ante this year by performing in September on a metal themed cruise – the perfectly titled Motörhead's MotörBoat cruise – featuring performances by Motörhead, Megadeath and Anthrax.

He will bring a full band and unveil some of the new comedy metal songs he will include on a new album due next year. The idea is to have great-sounding heavy metal music paired with family-driven and/or funny lyrics – no stereotypical metal lyrics about demons or gore.

"I love hard rock and metal bands like AC/DC, Metallica and Judas Priest, but I can't relate to any of those lyrics anymore and I don't want to give up on that music," he says. "I'm waiting to hear the guy singing about what it's like to be married, raising teenage daughters and living in a new, middle-upper-class neighborhood.

"It's almost an extension of my stand-up. It's not always hilarious, but people can relate to it and go, 'Yeah, this is great!'"

And if your palms are sweating for Breuer just thinking about being trapped on a cruise boat with his metal fan audience, he has a secret he learned on Shiprocked, his first performance cruise earlier this year: the artists have a cordoned off living area.

"I was fascinated to find that out. You have your own restaurants and deck," he says. "I mingle with the crowd at times because as a comedian you need to be with people to relate, but I definitely had a safe haven."